1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to an electronic system, and in particular to a system for instructing a user how to navigate within buildings.
2. Description of Related Art
More than 7 million people go blind each year in the United States. Blindness can arise from one of many different causes, such as macular degeneration, accident or injury, diabetes, and so on. Blindness works to severely limit one's ability to be mobile. This lack of mobility inherently results often in the seclusion, depression, and inability of those individuals from engaging in the public environment.
Various methods or devices have been developed to assist blind individuals in navigating and engaging in the public environment. For example, seeing-eye dogs are used to help direct an individual. Although dogs help in terms of general navigation, the dog is unable to provide accurate and detailed navigation to the blind. Additional disadvantages to the use of trained dogs to solve navigation issues is that the training of dogs can be very time consuming and costly. Additionally, distractions may arise which may get in the way of the dog performing despite training.
Another method or device is the elongated stick. The blind individual is tasked with repetitively passing the stick in a sideways motion in front of them to alert them to any obstacles. This stick only provides immediate obstacle detection but provides no additional benefit.
Although great strides have been made in the area of mobility aids for the visually impaired, considerable shortcomings remain. A need for the blind is the ability to successfully and accurately navigate the channels of the known world. It is a desire for them to identify a location to go to and successfully reach that destination. Route guidance seen in maps are only used for the general locations on a map but fail to pinpoint precise locations within structures or complexes. Locations off the roads and exterior walkways are typically unnavigable through route guidance. For example, doors, bathrooms, office suites, stairs, and emergency exits are often if not always unknown to those who are blind. Present systems and tools for the blind are unable to provide the freedom and flexibility to navigate.
While the system and method of the present application is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the application to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the process of the present application as defined by the appended claims.